


It's Only Temporary

by PattRose



Category: The Sentinel
Genre: Angst, Humor, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-27
Updated: 2013-02-27
Packaged: 2017-12-03 19:14:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/701709
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PattRose/pseuds/PattRose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Blair has only known temporary his entire life.  What happens when he meets Jim and things start to change?</p>
            </blockquote>





	It's Only Temporary

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Lisa, Duncan's Twin. She sent me a prompt and asked me to write it. This is what I came up with.
> 
> Thank you to Bluewolf for the quick and fantastic beta.

It’s Only Temporary  
By Patt

 

Summary: Blair has only known temporary his entire life. What happens when he meets Jim and things start to change?  
Word count: 3,584  
Notes: Thank you to Becky for use of the transcripts. That is one of my favorite places to go. 

 

When Blair was five, Naomi moved him in the middle of the night from a place that almost seemed like a home and told him, it had only been temporary. Blair didn’t understand the word so much as the action that followed. He always had to leave someone or something behind. At the ripe age of five, he realized he didn’t like temporary at all. 

Every six to eight months, they would leave wherever they were staying and Naomi would tell him they were going to the next place, but it was only temporary. As Blair grew, he also grew to dislike his mother’s actions. Even as he got older and changed schools so many times, she always said it was for him, so that he could learn from different teachers in different places. She always made it sound like she was giving up her happiness just for him. Blair knew at fourteen that he wasn’t that happy at all. He longed for good friends and a place he could call home. But of course, Naomi would explain how foolish that was and they would soon be leaving for the next city. When Blair graduated high school, he had just turned sixteen and told his mom he wanted to go to Rainier in Cascade. She told him that he would learn more from their traveling together, but Blair wouldn’t give in. He wouldn’t give up his dreams to find a Sentinel. He was going to study that and go on expeditions that would hopefully make his life feel complete. Right then, he felt like he was missing many things and could only hope to find what he wanted in life. 

 

When he started at Rainier, he was the youngest of the freshman. Many made fun of him because he was smart and knew all the answers, but after a time, they all got used to him and he felt like he was fitting in. 

 

During his second year, he started not only looking for field expeditions to go on, but also discovered dating. One thing he learned from his mom was that dating was only temporary and you didn’t want to get serious or they would change your life completely. 

~~~~~~~~~~

When Blair met Doctor Eli Stoddard, he became fast friends with the man. He hoped that they would be going to South America. Maybe if Blair was lucky enough to learn the language of the tribes they would encounter, he could find out if any of them had Sentinels in their tribe or not. 

The next thing Blair knew he was in South America with Dr. Stoddard. They came in contact with an Amerindian tribe, that were very kind to them all. One of the largest groups of Amerindian people in South America was the Yanomami. Their village life was centered around the yano, or communal house. The yano is a large, circular building constructed of vine and leaf thatch, which has a living space in the middle. Blair picked up their language pretty quickly and began his search for a true Sentinel. It wasn’t long into their stay with the Yanomami, that Blair found out they indeed did have a Watchman. Blair was thrilled when he got to meet him and spend time with him. Eli told him that they didn’t have too much longer to stay so he had better hurry up with his studies and findings. Blair sat in one of the yanos that night and was saddened to realize that he couldn’t do anything with this information. He couldn’t use this tribe for his thesis when the time came. He would always have the Yanomamis in his heart and mind, but could never put them down on paper. When Blair told Eli about it, Eli patted him on the back and said, “You’re a good young man, Blair. A lot of people wouldn’t care about the tribes at all.”

Blair didn’t feel like a good young man, he felt like he was cheated, so therefore he was selfish. During the entire plane ride home, he was feeling very sorry for himself. 

Eli sat in the seat next to Blair and said, “Young man, do you believe that there might be a Sentinel someone in the United States?”

“Of course I believe it, Eli. They could be anywhere,” Blair answered. 

“Then you must not stop looking. Do your studies on it. Write all the papers you need to write, but keep a lookout for the one you need to find,” Eli said. 

Blair smiled and replied, “I will, Eli. Thank you for giving me this opportunity to learn about them first hand. I know there is one out there for me to find. I just know it.”

~~~~~~~~~~

In the next four years, Blair was busy with learning new things and searching for his Sentinel. He had no idea what he would do with him if he ever found him, or her. Why did Blair always think it would be a man? It never occurred to him that it could just as easily be a woman. Blair realized that he wished him to be a man, because Blair enjoyed the male form even more than the female form. Blair had dated quite a few guys, but nothing serious, because he learned from the best to keep it light and be ready to move on. Sometimes Blair felt like he was missing out on something, but other times he felt like he had a perfect life. No one told him what to do or when to do it. It was a great life. 

~~~~~~~~~~

Blair had now been in college for a long while and he was doing great. He had just received his masters and now could focus on a thesis and his doctorate. 

 

Blair was invited to a party that night and he decided that he worked too hard and needed to have some down time. He walked into the large house and saw a lot of people from his classrooms. The music was so loud Blair couldn’t hear what anyone was saying. He walked off into a room that was quieter and shut the door and leaned against it. He didn’t realize there were people in the bathroom to the right of the room. He could hear them talking as if he was in that room. Bathrooms always have that echo sound and you can hear it all over the place. 

 

He stood there and listened to the two girls talking in the room. “Did you see Blair came tonight? I wonder who he’s going to fuck this time. He’ll screw anything as long as they don’t ask for a second date. I wonder why he doesn’t like getting serious,” the first girl asked. 

“I have no idea, but he was fun. I like him but would have liked a second chance, I think,” the second girl said. 

“And he’s not particular, he’ll date women or men. It’s really sad that he’s not into something a little more permanent.”

Blair blushed and walked out of the room before they could see him standing there. He walked out of the house and hailed a cab back to the university. He would study in the library and think about all that was said about him. Maybe it was time to give up on sex for awhile. That way he wouldn’t be hurting anyone, including himself. 

~~~~~~~~~~ 

Three years later, he got a phone call; a nurse from Cascade General was calling. “Blair, this is Annette. You asked me to let you know if anyone showed up at the hospital with odd problems. You said that if they were having trouble with senses to let you know. Well there is one Detective Jim Ellison sitting here waiting to see a doctor about some tests that were done. Consider yourself told.” She hung up the phone before he had a chance to say anything. 

Blair raced to Cascade General and found out where Jim Ellison was and put a lab coat on and walked into his exam room. The first thing that Blair noticed was how gorgeous this man was. Then he remembered why he was there and gave him a card and told him if he wanted answers to see the man from the card.

As soon as he left, a doctor walked in and told Jim his tests were all fine. Jim knew he wasn’t fine. He was going to have to see the man that was on the card. _Damn it, I don’t want to see anyone new. I wanted answers today, not tomorrow._

Jim left the hospital with a very heavy heart. 

~~~~~~~~~~

Jim walked into the university and looked for the room on the card. He found it, scratched onto the door and smiled to himself. _He might be wise, but he’s not rich._ He knocked on the door and heard loud jungle music and also a voice saying, “Come in.”

Blair turned around from what he was doing and smiled at the man. Oh, hey. Notice how the war chant of the Yanomamo headhunters finds its echo in the cellars of Seattle. I'm sure your dad used to say that stuff all the time about the Stones. "Hey, hey, turn that jungle music down."

Jim glared at Blair and said, “Yeah, he did. So do I. You mind?”

Blair said, “Don’t mind at all.” He turned the music off and smiled at Jim. 

“ Why are you in my face?” Jim asked. 

Blair smiled again, hoping to calm Jim down. “Oh, hey, look I'm really sorry about all that Shakespeare stuff at the hospital. But I just had to find some way to get you into my area here to talk.”

“So talk,” Jim said. 

Blair cleared a seat off and told Jim, “Sit down.”

Jim sat and stared at Blair. 

“You see, there's this nurse I've been....you know...tutoring at the med center. She saw your chart and she faxed it over to me. And when I read that thing, man, it was like -- Bang! Holy Grail time.”

“You’re losing, me Chief.”

“Okay, um...my name is Blair Sandburg. And I'm working on my doctorate in Anthropology and you just may be the living embodiment of my field of study. If I'm correct, Detective Ellison, you're a behavioral throwback to a pre-civilized breed of man.”

Jim stood up very quickly and asked, “Are you out of your mind? You dragged me all the way over here to tell me I'm some sort of caveman?”

Blair had the decency to blush. “Well, maybe I was a little out of line with that caveman remark, but I mean...”

Jim then slammed Blair against the wall and Jim noticed that Blair didn’t seem to mind it so much. Then he said, “Listen, you neo-hippie witch doctor punk, I could slap you right now with larceny and false impersonation and you are heading real quick into harassing a police officer, and what's more your behavior is giving me probable cause to shake this place down from top to bottom for narcotics.”

“Hey, Joe Friday, relax, okay? Look, you mess with me, man, and you are never gonna figure out what's up with you.”

Jim released him and walked away. 

“Now I know about your time spent in Peru and it has got to be connected to what is happening to you now. Now, let me just show you something here. This is a monograph by Sir Richard Burton, the explorer, not the actor. It's over a hundred years old.” Blair took out the book and opened it to show Jim. 

“Anyway, the idea goes something like this -- in all tribal cultures every village had what Burton named a Sentinel. Now this was someone who patrolled the border.”

Jim asked, “You mean a scout?”

“No, no, no, more like a watchman. You see, this Sentinel would watch for approaching enemies, change in the weather or movement of game. Tribe survival depended on it,” Blair said without taking a breath. 

“What’s this got to do with me?” Jim wondered. 

“A Sentinel is chosen because of a genetic advantage. A sensory awareness that can be developed beyond normal humans. Now these senses are honed by solitary time spent in the wild. Now at first Burton's monograph was disputed and now it's basically forgotten. I mean, there are certain manifestations today of maybe one or two hyperactive senses, like taste and smell, people who work for coffee and perfume companies. Oh, and in Vietnam, the Army long-range recon units that had to –“

“Change their diet to fish and rice because a Cong scout could smell a Westerner by his waste?” Jim asked. 

“Right, right, exactly. I've got hundreds and hundreds of documented cases over here of one or two hyperactive senses but not one single subject with all five. You could be the real thing.”

“The truth is I don't remember much of anything about the jungle,” Jim confessed. 

“A year and a half spent in the bush? The sole survivor of your unit? I mean, I'm no psychiatrist, but that sounds pretty damn traumatic to me. And trauma tends to get repressed,” Blair explained. 

“So why is it happening now?” Jim asked. 

“I don’t have all the answers yet, Jim, but you need someone that understands your condition.”

“And what do you get out of this?” Jim inquired. 

“My doctorate is what I will get. You’ll be my thesis,” Blair said as calmly as he could. He was so excited he could hardly contain himself. 

Jim shouted, “I’ve had enough.” He then walked out of the office. 

Blair called down the hall, “I forgot to tell you about the zone out factor.” _Shit, I’ll probably never see him again._

Outside Blair’s office, Jim stopped to watch a bright red Frisbee and got lost in it and didn’t hear the garbage truck honking his horn.

Blair jumped on Jim and pushed him down to the ground. Once the truck passed over them, Blair jumped up, followed by a very confused Jim Ellison. 

“What happened?” Jim asked. 

“What were you doing right before I pushed you under the truck?”

“I was watching the Frisbee and that’s the last thing I remember,” Jim said, still shaken. 

“That’s what I was trying to warn you about, Jim. The zone out factor.”

The truck driver got out of his truck to see if they were all right. “Are you all right?” 

“We’re fine, man,” Blair answered. 

Jim pushed Blair out of the street and said, “Let’s get out of here before someone asks questions.”

“Me too?” Blair asked. 

“You’re the only one I know that understands this. So, I guess we’re stuck with each other for awhile.”

“Cool, man. I have a lot of tests I’ll need to run on you and we’ll work together to try and get this all figured out,” Blair answered. 

~~~~~~~~~~

For the next few months, they did indeed do testing and as much as Jim hated it, he realized that everything Blair did was helping him a great deal. 

Blair had thought about asking Jim out more than once, but decided it wouldn’t be good to sleep with his subject. Blair also got the feeling that Jim liked having him around too, but he didn’t make any moves either. _It’s actually good, because I would just leave him behind like I do everyone else._

~~~~~~~~~~

A few weeks later, Jim was sitting on Blair’s couch eating popcorn when he heard something strange. He jumped up and grabbed Blair and pulled him down to the floor just before there was a huge explosion. Blair’s apartment was no more. Jim hurriedly got Blair out of the building before it all went up in flames. 

“Chief, didn’t you know that there was a meth lab next door?” Jim asked. 

“You didn’t know it either,” Blair countered. 

“There is that. Well, I’m sorry about your apartment,” Jim said, seriously. 

“Jim, do you think I could stay at your place for one week? Just until I find a place of my own. It won’t take me too long,” Blair pleaded. 

Jim thought for a moment and said, “One week, Chief and that’s it.”

“Thanks, man.”

He was able to go inside and get a few small items from the warehouse and then he and Jim drove over to the loft. 

As they drove, Blair kept looking at Jim oddly. Jim noticed it too. 

“What’s up, Blair?”

“It’s just funny how I’ve been with you for quite some time now and I haven’t left. That’s my usual habit. I never stay friends with anyone too long,” Blair admitted. 

“Maybe it’s because we’re such good friends. I can’t imagine my life without you in it helping me with these senses,” Jim said. 

“That was nice, man. Thanks.” 

When they got to the loft, Blair got settled into the small room and wrote some notes on tests that they had done on Jim over at his house before it blew up. 

Jim told him to come and watch the game and had a beer sitting there waiting for him. 

“Wow, you have food and drink?” Blair asked, laughing. 

Jim laughed, too. 

“I promise I’ll start looking at rentals tomorrow morning, Jim.”

“It’s not a big rush, Chief. You’re doing fine.”

~~~~~~~~~~

**Three weeks later:**

Blair got home, late as usual and said, “Jim, I know it’s my night to cook but I got held up at the uni. I’ll start dinner right now.”

“I ordered pizza, Chief. It’s in the fridge. Heat up a slice. Did you have a good day,” Jim called out across the room as he sat on the sofa. 

“Thanks for the pizza, man. I had a great day, but two students tried to cause a little trouble, so I had to take it up with the dean. It’s all good, now. I’m sorry about not finding a place yet. Jim, I promise, I’ll really start looking for one this week.”

“Blair, it’s really all right. I’ve never been in any rush. I like us sharing the duties here at the loft. It’s awfully nice to not have to cook every single night. I have no complaints, Chief. It’s also nice to have you close by when it comes to Sentinel things.”

Blair’s heart melted when he heard his usually stoic partner admit to liking him in the loft. Blair wasn’t sure how he felt about this. This was more than temporary. This was almost permanent. How did he feel about that? _I’m scared to death, damn it. Jim has taken up permanent residence in my heart, mind and soul. Can I do this? I’ve never done this before. Will I end up hurting him?_

Jim watched his partner and roommate and asked, “Is there anything I can do to help, Blair?”

“It all stems back to my mother and the life we led. I’m not used to staying in one place too long and putting down roots anywhere. I was led to believe that life isn’t life unless it’s temporary. Now, I’m just a little confused,” Blair explained. 

“So you’re wondering if you can do permanent.” Jim asked. 

“I don’t think I can, Jim. I’ll end up hurting both of us and I don’t know that I can live with that,” Blair said, sadly. 

“So, don’t hurt me. It’s simple, actually. Your mother isn’t always right. You do permanent well, so I don’t know why you’re even questioning it.”

“Can I ask you something serious?” Blair asked. 

“Shoot,” Jim answered. 

“What would you think or do if I asked you out on a date?” Blair got up and started pacing while he awaited Jim’s reply. 

“I would say, yes and I think you could do permanent with me. Did you ever think that maybe nobody else was the right person to be permanent with?” Jim wondered aloud. 

“Maybe you’re right. So, where can I take you out on a date?” 

“What about dinner here, cooked by you and followed by dancing all evening and then maybe some making out with groping. How does that sound?” Jim asked, wiggling his eyebrows up and down. 

Blair sat down next to Jim and hugged him hard. “Thank you, Jim. For giving me a permanent place in your heart. You have one in mine, too.”

“Glad to hear it, because there will be no others, Blair. I don’t share well at all.”

Blair hugged him again and said, “I’m going to bed. I’ll see you tomorrow night at 6:30 for dinner and we’ll dance the night away.”

“Goodnight, Chief. See you tomorrow at 6:30,” Jim said, happily. 

Blair walked into his room and stripped and got on his bed. He looked up at the ceiling and smiled. Blair Sandburg had finally found his place in life. He had a home, a new life, a new love, a best friend and a heart that was beating just a little bit faster than normal. Blair was happy and hoped that someday Naomi would approve of his choices that he made. But for right now, Blair didn’t care about Naomi. He only cared about who was in his heart forever. Jim. 

The end


End file.
